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The Grove Grizzly A Note from Mrs. Matthews    Dear Grove Families,   September is Attendance Awareness Month. Once again Grove will be participating in the Lake County ROE Attendance contest during the week of September 10th-14th. This is a national initiative to start off the school year on the right foot in terms of student attendance. Last year, Grove participated in the attendance awareness month contest and we were recognized as having the highest attendance rate for our school size/category in Lake County!     While I hope and anticipate that we once again will have high attendance rates during the week of the contest, I would like to emphasize the importance of good attendance all year long, not just a week or a month out of the year. Research from the article Present, Engaged, and Accounted For: The Critical Importance of Addressing Chronic Absence in the Early Grades by Hedy N. Chang and Mariajosé Romero article indicates the following:   Common sense and research suggest that attending school regularly is important to ensuring children develop a strong foundation for subsequent learning.    During the early elementary years, children are gaining basic social and academic skills critical to ongoing academic success. Unless students attain these essential skills by third grade, they often require extra help to catch up and are at grave risk of eventually dropping out of school.    Chronic absence — missing 10 percent or more of school days due to absence for any reason—excused, unexcused absences and suspensions, can translate into third-graders unable to master reading, sixth-graders failing subjects and ninth-graders dropping out of high school.    While chronic absence presents academic challenges for students not in class, when it reaches high levels in a classroom or school, all students may suffer because the resulting classroom churn hampers teachers’ ability to engage all students and meet their learning needs.   In addition, I would like to highlight the new state guidelines that have been put into place regarding student attendance and how the attendance of individual students can affect our entire school. The current State of Illinois ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) plan, that was recently approved by the US Department of Education in August 2017, has new definitions for reporting chronic absenteeism and chronic truancy. CHRONIC ABSENTEEISM is defined as missing 10 percent or more of enrolled school year days for any reason - excused, unexcused, or disciplinary.  CHRONIC TRUANCY is defined as 5 percent (9 or more days) unexcused absences without a valid cause (i.e., illness, bereavement, religious holiday, family emergency, and Take a Child to Work day).   Three years ago, Barrington School District 220 began a concerted effort throughout the entire school district to better inform our families through letters and conversations with building administrators about concerns on student absences.  We embarked on this new district attendance program not only because of the new guidelines outlined above, but more importantly because the links between attendance and student achievement are clear. Students that attend regularly become more successful learners and responsible citizens.  We want each student to take full advantage of every learning opportunity presented in our classrooms throughout the school year.  We are asking for your continued support as parents to be diligent about sending your children to school each day (unless they are sick) as well as planning vacations during regularly scheduled non-attendance days. Please keep in mind that our attendance record as a school directly impacts our overall School Report Card and taking your child out of school for family vacations/ trips or sporting or other outside activities can have a negative impact on our school performance.   Throughout the upcoming 2018-2019 school year, we will continue to provide families with ongoing communication regarding their child’s attendance record.  We will utilize phone calls, email messages, letters delivered via US mail service, and meetings with school administration as necessary to address attendance concerns and identify ways to improve daily attendance if necessary.  I encourage all families to work closely with me, should interventions be necessary to improve regular school attendance. Upcoming Dates: Thursday, September 13th – 3rd Grade Smart Farm Field Study (2 classes) Friday, September 14th – PTO Back to School Bash, 5:00-8:00 p.m. @ Grove Tuesday, September 18th – PTO Meeting, 9:15 a.m. in the Art Room Tuesday, September 18th – 5th Grade Parent Outdoor Education Mtg., 6:30 p.m., Art Rm. Thursday, September 20th – Grove Parent Curriculum Night, 6:30 p.m. Friday, September 21st – 5th Grade Challenger Learning Center Field Trip, 2 classes Monday, September 24th – Friday, September 28th – Safety Week   Monday, September 24th – Room Parent Meeting, 9:15-10:00 a.m. in the MPR Monday, September 24th – Picture Day for Students and Family Picture Night Tuesday, September 25th – Family Picture Night Tuesday, September 25th – Community Safety Night, 7:00 p.m. in the BHS Auditorium Tuesday, September 25th – Kindergarten Field Trip to Crabtree Nature Center (1 class) Wednesday, September 26th – Kindergarten Field Trip Crabtree Nature Center (2 classes) Wednesday, September 26th – 4th Grade Stillman Field Trip (4 classes) Friday, September 28th – 5th Grade to Challenger Learning Center Field Trip, 2 classes Wednesday, October 3rd – Friday, October 5th – 5th Grade Outdoor Education   Grove PTO's Annual Back-to-School Bash is Next Friday! We are excited and ready! Are you?!   Presale ticket forms went home in backpacks this week. Extra forms are available in the Grove office if needed. For your convenience tickets may also be purchased online here! We are still in need of parent volunteers! Please consider volunteering! This event is not possible without the help of our amazing Grove community!   Thank you for your support! Bash Co-Chairs Alejandra Acosta & Kelly Daugherty   Fall Box Top Competition at Grove!   Please keep an eye out for a baggie coming home to collect your Box Tops for Education!    All you have to do is cut the little pink and white box with the Box Tops for Education logo out of various grocery items and collect them in the baggie coming home. The baggie is one convenient way your student can return their Box Tops to school.  Please remember to write your student’s name on the baggie or on the piece of paper inside of the bag in order for us to know who it’s from!  Box Tops can also be put in the Box Tops collection box that is located in the school front office.  It's just all that simple!    A few examples of common products that have the Box Tops logo include: General Mills cereals, Annie’s fruit snacks, Ziploc bags, Yoplait yogurt, Motts juices and applesauce, LARABAR, Nature Valley, etc. Each box top is worth 10 cents with the exception of Super Box Tops and Bonus Box Tops which are worth more.    So please, start cutting out those little coupons and turn them in by our deadline of Monday October 15th. The three students to submit the most Box Tops will receive a $5 gift certificate to use at the Grove Avenue School Scholastic Fall Book Fair!  Can you imagine how many box tops we can collect if the whole school participates? Every little bit helps!  (Please note ** be careful not to cut off the expiration dates.)   Contact Leena Varghese at Leenavarghese326@gmail.com with any questions.  Spirit Wear Sale   FREE SHIPPING for Grove Spirit Wear begins 9/14 through 10/1!  Flyers will go home with students next week and sample gear will be on display during Back to School Night on 9/20.     Go to:  groveavespiritwear.com to browse the full selection of newly designed Spirit Wear.  Choose from a wide variety of t-shirts and sweatshirts, select the Grove design you’d like to apply and place your order!  Or select polos, zip-ups, shorts and pants already bearing a Grove Avenue Grizzlies logo.  Go Grizzlies!!